


Growing Galra Pains

by mnite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22746778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mnite/pseuds/mnite
Summary: Taking place after season 2 (and ignoring the rest of canon) the group is looking for Shiro. But as the search goes nowhere, Keith undergoes a strange development with a big surprise.By that I mean that there's going to be some minor giant/tiny down the line but I don't know how that's tagged here yet.
Kudos: 5





	1. Day 1

He wanted to believe it was a weird bruise, but Keith knew his back was growing Galra skin. He didn’t notice it at first since it was, well, on his back but he touched it while he undressed for the night. It had the same rough texture as that time it grew on his hand when fighting Zarkon. He wondered if he should tell the others. But it was getting late, the search for Shiro was going nowhere, and it would be better to let everyone rest before giving them more bad news.


	2. Day 2

Now the Galra skin was popping up on his hand again and there was more on his back. Better tell the others then. In the lobby, everyone was in uniform. Pidge was obsessively glancing between multiple screens. Lance was looking more and more tired. Hunk had been showing up to meetings late, he wasn’t even there when Keith arrived. Coran could be caught pacing before everyone showed up. Allura threw ideas out there like she was throwing life preservers for people on the Titanic. So Keith supposed he might as well bear the news now before it got worse for everyone.

“Guys,” he said, “I think I’m… going Galra.” Why did he word it like that? No one knows. Most certainly not Keith.

“What, like you’re defecting or- oh. Oh. Like. Wait no I... What are you talking about?” Lance mumbled while blinking like he just discovered what blinking was. 

Keith brought his hand forward and sighed, “Purple.” 

Pidge groaned, which was rude but Keith felt the same way about the situation.

“That’s… strange…" Allura said, "But there has t- quintessence! When you were fighting Zarkon there was a surge of quintessence which was the last time this happened so therefore this must have been caused by you being exposed to quintessence… When would this have happened?”

“I don’t know…” Keith lied. He knew one source of quintessence that he was near all day yesterday: the red lion. Day in day out, scouring the cosmos for Shiro all while making sure no one knew they couldn’t form Voltron right now, he would sit in an entity powered purely by quintessence. He supposed then it would’ve been only a matter of time until the exposure built up to this.

Coran muttered, “I’ll check for recent levels of quintessence in the places we’ve- hold on we should let Hunk know what’s going-”

“I’ll get him!” Allura piped up. She ran through the door and was back in a minute. Hunk dragged himself into the lobby.

Hunk yawned, “What I miss?” 

Everyone replied, “Keith’s going Galra.” 

Keith brought his purple hand to his forehead. Some kind of bewildered mumbling tumbled from Hunk’s mouth like rocks down a cliff. Then life went on, they had breakfast, and soon enough they were back to the search. All of the paladins got in their lions without any protests from Keith. The rest of the day was spent looking for Shiro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update will be next Saturday but I don't know how soon the one after that will be as of now.


	3. Day 3

This was the day he noticed the growth spurt. Well, he didn’t notice it specifically. He did find some brief trouble putting on his uniform until it adjusted to him. But what he really noticed was the dull ache in his joints. It wasn’t an agonizing pain, it was sort of like carrying a backpack, and he found himself able to ignore it.   
When he entered the lobby, his friends didn’t notice the growth either, but were distracted by something else about him.

“What?” Keith asked as they looked at him before they averted their gazes.

Lance was the first to ask, “Did you not check a mirror this morning?”

Keith shrugged and answered, “I never use mirrors.”

“Ever? Ever,” Lance exclaimed while waving his arms, “Okay, forget everything else, that’s what’s truly messed up here. I mean, like, c’mon guys back me up! This is so weird and- and ridiculous. Let’s all. Divert our attention here. To this. Crisis.” Lance looked as though his knees could buckle that very second. The mental image of him falling to the floor and shattering like glass flashed in Keith’s mind like lightning crashing his skull.

Keith sighed, “What if we all agreed to take the day off?” 

There were glances passed around, uncertainty fogging up the room. Hunk walked over to Lance, who started leaning against him without a word. The two of them left. Pidge watched with concern. She rubbed her eyes while stifling a yawn. She took off her glasses, Matt’s glasses, staring at them for a solid, palpable moment. After this she was back at her computer with fervor.

Coran approached her and said, “All means all, it’s not healthy overworking like this. We can talk about ideas on the way to the hologram room.” Pidge conceded. The two of them left. It was just Keith. And Allura. He avoided eye contact with her.

He asked, “You go-”

“I should have been the one to suggest that,” she interrupted, “I mean, I should have seen how exhausted everyone was and done something. Sorry if I implied that it’s wrong for you to have done… what… you...” The exhalation following this ramble had a force behind it. She continued, “I suppose I was too tired to realize how tired I was! How paradoxical! See you around!” 

She left. Keith stayed in the room for a second or two. He went to have breakfast but he heard something in the hallway. It was Lance’s voice in Hunk’s room. He kept walking as to not eavesdrop.   
In the kitchen, the first thing he grabbed were some meatballs Hunk made a few days ago. He didn’t even bother to pour some sauce with them or pair them with some kind of pasta. He ate them plain. They weren’t that good. Mostly since the ship only had a meat substitute that had a grainy texture. He’d kill for some actual meat. Not literally. Okay it would have to literally since that’s where meat comes from. Maybe they could get some eggs tomorrow. That was a reassuring thought. They could at least manage to find something as simple as that, right? He went to eat in his room. While he was in there, he checked his reflection. There were purple splotches at his temples and his ears looked pointier. So that was what all the fuss was about. Nothing major. For now.


End file.
